Saturday, April 30, 2011

Ruminations on a wedding...

Not that I'll admit it in public, I did actually get up at 5:30 a.m. yesterday to watch the wedding ceremony.

I don't really know what captured my interest about the whole thing. Mostly I'm fairly on top of the news, and since it was such an historic event, I felt somewhat obliged to tune in.

And besides, it's nice to be able to look back in a few years and "remember where" I was when William wed Kate. They're historical markers/lampposts of your life that etch memories of who you were at that point in time into your brain, along with the significant world event.

And lets face it, the last few significant world events that we won't be forgetting were decidedly unhappy, so it's quite pleasant and positive to have been witness to a happy one!

Firstly, (I know at least one of you will roll your eyes to this) I have to say that her brother is quite cute. Matter of fact, there were a lot of cute guys seen throughout. I seemingly have a bias towards British guys, and the fact that I was half asleep through the first hour sort of negates me as being a gold standard of hotness.

I actually really enjoyed the service, it was simple and quite touching. The sermon in particular stood out to me as memorable. A few points that I really liked:

- "Transform, not reform one another." What a nice way to actually think about love and relationships. People seem to attempt to 'change' their partner's habits or attitudes instead of working together and becoming something new and more positive. Of course, that's only relevant if the person you're with is actually as committed to the relationship, e.g. "Your very own Prince/ss".

- "Love that is secure, not impulsive." Again, see above. Speaks to the more mature end of relationships, because lets face it, I'd rather a guy that brought home a pizza and wine every Friday night than being swept away for a romantic weekend once and then summarily dumped a couple weeks later.

- [in vows] "With my body I thee honour." This hit me like a ton of bricks when I heard it. Superior and more intimate in every way than, "With this ring I thee wed." You're not talking about an inanimate object here, you're talking about caring so deeply for someone else that you're connected on a molecular level. Why is it so hard for the modern man to honour you with his own body by not cheating on you or doing shit that he shouldn't behind your back?

Actually, looking at what I've just written strikes me as if I'm fairly un-spontaneous when it comes to relationships. I'm not going to say I like a "sure thing" but compared to being swept off my feet then kicked to the curb, I do favour the less-thrilling option. Maybe I'm not pushing myself outside my comfort zone enough, in terms of dating someone on a whim and with little thought for the consequences.

Ugh, even writing that last sentence was hard to write...I always think of the consequences. But maybe that's my problem.

Anyway, the wedding was lovely, upbeat and it was genuinely nice to see all the crowds of happy onlookers. Plus, here in Canada, Tracey Ullman served as commentator/co-host to the broadcast, so that was just funny.

But of course, not that I would ever admit it in public...